Wheel counting in Vienna

27th December 2015

Railway track experiences all the climatic extremes the planet can throw at it. It is also subject to heavy loads, vibration, pollution and electromagnetic interference. This is not the ideal environment for an exposed electrical circuit that is a safety-critical element of the signalling system.

That said, track circuits are generally highly reliable but, when they fail, this is usually due to environmental conditions completing the circuit.

As the system fails safe, there is no safety risk but such failures have a high service impact. This is one of the reasons that axle counters are increasingly popular and are now the train detection system of choice for Network Rail.

This much was apparent from the recent 2015 Wheel Detection Forum in Vienna, which was a three-day event attended by over 200 delegates from 34 countries. This was the third such forum, a bi-annual event organised by the Austrian company, Frauscher Sensortechnik GmbH. However, this was not immediately apparent, as its focus was the benefits of axle counters, rather than its own products.

Keynote speakers

With the exception of Wabtec’s Dwayne Allan, the opening keynote speakers said little about axle counters. Dwayne’s presentation concerned axle counters in Australia and New Zealand where they were introduced in the 1980s. Their early use was on ‘long skinny railways’
as, unlike track circuits, there is no restriction on signal section length if axle counters are used. Other advantages of axle counters were the removal of insulated rail joints and the ability to alter signalling functionality during infrastructure upgrades.

Presentations on the project management challenges of installing railway infrastructure in the 57km Gotthard Base Tunnel and the expansion of Turkish railways were fascinating. As far as track circuits were concerned, the Forum learnt that the new Gotthard tunnel used Thales axle counters and that in Turkey there was a mix of detection systems, with track circuits presenting the greatest reliability issue.

Max Schubert of DB Mobility Networks Logistics explained how Fibre Optic Sensing (FOS) detects wheels and anything else along the infrastructure causing ground vibration. This may be quite tiny, for example a human footstep.

FOS measures changes in reflected light from micro deformations in a calibrated fibre that typically can provide a ‘microphone’ every 10 metres over a 40km length. With fibre cables commonplace along the infrastructure, FOS can make use of spare fibres without the cost of additional infrastructure.

The FOS technique is being evaluated on a 33km section of high-speed line in Germany. This has identified 27 potential applications, one of which is timely station announcements of trains approaching at over 160km/h. Initial results indicate that FOS can fulfil this requirement. Although it is not certain whether FOS can be developed to the safety integrity level required by signalling systems, this trial shows its potential for other applications in the near future. In Britain, FOS is now used to detect rocks falling onto the Oban line from the steep slopes of Ben Cruachan.

Axle counter system

For signalling, the axle counter system consists of the wheel sensor, axle counters and communication with the signalling interlocking. Modern wheel sensors are mounted on the inner face of the rail below flange height. They have two upward facing magnetic coils. Wheels are detected when the voltage of the alternating current in the coils is suppressed as a wheel flange passes over them.

This is not the simple piece of kit it might be thought to be. The coils need to be immune to electromagnetic interference, for which Frauscher has developed the V.Mix technology.

This combines three inductive processes (inductivity, field deflection and eddy current/ hysteresis) to increase the sensor’s resistance to electromagnetic interference, linear eddy current brakes and electromagnetic rail brakes. Coils also have to operate consistently between -40°C and 100°C, despite significant changes to the conductivity and permeability of the coils’ iron cores over this temperature range.

The axle counter is the electronics that interprets the wheel sensor output. To do this, the counter’s evaluation board (EB) converts analogue signals from the wheel sensor coils to a digital pulse. As well as counting the number of axles over the sensor, the EB also detects direction and speed by comparing signals from the two wheel sensor coils. It also has a logic circuit that counts axles in and out of each signal section to determine whether the section is occupied or clear.

The axle counter unit also incorporates a power supply with over-voltage protection. If not directly wired to the interlocking, it also has a communications board to transmit clear/occupied section data and receive requests for resets.

Resets may be required as axle counters, unlike track circuits, do not continuously detect trains. Instead, they use logic to determine whether a section is clear using data from individual wheel sensors. When normal operation is disturbed, for example by equipment failure or engineering work, the normal logic does not apply and a potentially disruptive system reset is required.

Automatic reset

The Frauscher FAdC axle counter system has a high availability as it is designed to largely eliminate such disruptive resets without compromising safety. As Phil Blacker of Atkins explained, this approach assumes that trains cannot fly or materialise out of nowhere.

The FAdC system offers two ways of doing this: counting head control or supervisor track sections. The basis of counting head control is that, as the axle counter system knows where trains are, it also knows when a train is approaching a wheel sensor. Hence, it can identify wheel sensor signals that are not trains, for example maintenance trollies.

Supervisor track sections are two adjacent track sections. If there is an abnormal operation of the middle wheel sensor, the sensors at each end of the supervisor section will still count the same number of axles into and out of the larger section. The supervisor track sections overlap so that each track section is part of two of them. If there is a track section fault, the sensor concerned can be automatically reset provided one of its supervisor track sections is clear.

UK standards do not yet allow for axle counter resets using counting head control and supervisor track sections. However, use of these techniques to improve axle counter availability is being actively progressed and has attracted worldwide interest.

Monsoons, lightning and pythons

The forum heard how monsoon floods, frequent lightning strikes and pythons climbing up overhead line masts affect tropical railways.

Whilst pythons are not a problem for the UK, floods are. Lightning strikes are also not unknown. Anthony Darama Rajan, signalling manager for Kuala Lumpur’s 59km airport link, advised that Malaysia has up to 250 thunderstorm days a year. He explained how axle counters had proved resilient to the flooding and made a significant contribution to the air link’s 99.83% on-time service performance, once wheel sensor earthing had been modified to prevent wheel sensor damage from frequent lighting strikes.

Flooding is an inevitable consequence of Mumbai’s monsoons, as illustrated by Sanjay Singh, S&T general manager of Mumbai Railway. His presentation showed packed trains running whilst water was at rail height as wheel sensors continued to function. With 7.6 million passengers a day on its 319 km suburban network, reliability of Mumbai’s signalling equipment is crucial. In 2012, Frauscher provided 1,900 counting heads and 1,400 track sections to upgrade this system.

Sanjay explained that, in addition to the sensor’s high environmental resilience, Mumbai’s railways achieve high signalling availability by using supervisor track sections, counting head control and redundancy from overlaying axle counters on track circuits.

This arrangement allows combined Counting Head Control and trolley suppression track circuits to avoid resets from use of maintenance trollies. Trolley suppression track circuits do not detect trolleys as they have insulated axles. Using Counting Head Control, the wheel sensor will ignore the two axles of trollies if the adjacent track sections or trolley suppression track circuits are clear. In case the track circuit gets occupied by the passing of another vehicle, the connected wheel sensor gets activated and following sections detect passing trains.

Ethernet communication

Various speakers mentioned the advantages of a decentralised architecture, made possible by modern transmission technologies. This presents security and reliability issues for which the Frauscher Safe Ethernet protocol has been developed as an option for system integrators who do not have their own protocol.

Providing the required software interface to exchange data between the axle counter and higher-level systems, this protocol also transmits data for diagnostics and centralised remote monitoring.

An example of such decentralised architecture is the modular signalling installed between Crewe and Shrewsbury in 2011 by Siemens, the first such system commissioned by Network Rail. This required 79 wheel sensors with the Frauscher FAdC axle counting system installed in 19 external cabinets. Communication between these cabinets and the Westrace interlocking is through an Ethernet connection using duplicated fibre optic cables.

Data transmission between axle counters and signalling interlocking by open Ethernet networks over a radio network also offers significant installation savings by eliminating cable routes. This does, however, present the challenge of providing a power supply for the wheel sensor. It seems this is not an issue for countries like Australia where the sun always shines on the sensor’s solar panels.

Level crossings

Speaking by Skype from India, Petchimuthu Gopalakrishnan advised how India’s 40,445 level crossings account for 44% of the country’s railway accidents. He referred to the advantages of axle counters for train detection.

In particular, he thought mass violations of level crossing rules by vehicle drivers would reduce if crossings did not have excessive warning times. In this respect, the easy adjustment of wheel sensors location was useful.

In Europe, level crossings account for 29% of all railway fatalities. José Fonseca of the Portuguese company EFACEC and Laurenz Trunner of the Austrian company EBE solutions are both concerned with the manufacture and installation of level crossing systems for which they offered the forum similar insights.

They both considered axle counters to be a more reliable and flexible solution than track circuits or treadles, an important consideration when railways have differing crossing detection requirements. They also noted that axle counters made it easier to optimise crossing warning times. Unlike track circuits, axle counters are not affected by rusty rails at crossings with few rail movements.

Ethernet-based communication reduced installation costs, allowed for remote monitoring of multiple crossings and supported integration with signalling and road traffic systems as required.

José Fonseca noted that EFACEC’s previous use of track circuits resulted in, typically, one defect per year per crossing. Since axle counters were introduced there had been virtually no failures.

Oiling the wheels

Presentations by America’s BNSF Railway, Progress Rail, Hegenscheidt and LORAM made it clear that large numbers of wheel sensors are used in non- signalling applications. For such use, Frauscher recently launched a stand-alone wheel sensor with an open analogue interface allowing it to be used with a wide variety of equipment.

Vennie Dyavanapali of LORAM estimated that, in North America, track lubrication systems use an estimated 25,000 wheel sensors of which around 90% are in yards with the remainder on the main line. Since 1900, flange lubricators have reduced the coefficient of friction at the gauge-face, typically to 0.05. Top-of-rail lubrication has been used in yards since 1995 and on the main line since 2005. This accommodates wheel speed differences on curves by applying a friction modifier to give a coefficient of friction of typically 0.3.

Wheel sensors ensure the correct amount of lubricant is applied. For top-of-rail lubrication, they also ensure lubricant is not applied until the locomotive has passed.

Axle counters monitor lubricant consumption and are used for billing. In yards, wheel sensors also control wagon speed, determine car location, detect stalled cars and activate wayside equipment such as scales and wheel cleaners.

Vennie noted that, for track maintenance, wheel sensors needed to be installed and calibrated in less than two minutes. They also needed a very low power draw, to be immune from AC interference, and to have wireless capabilities. Frauscher wheel sensors meet these requirements. In particular, with no requirement to drill the rail, sensors can be quickly installed as they are mounted using a rail claw.

Automated train monitoring

Hark Braren of BNSF provided another North American perspective with his presentation on the use of trackside equipment to prevent wagon derailments. This equipment uses various sensors, generally at common monitoring stations. Bearings are monitored by acoustic sensors and hot bearing monitors that measure surface temperature. A wheel impact detector measures flats and other wheel defects.

Vision Monitoring assesses bogie geometry for worn wheels and poor steering as well as broken springs and friction wedges. It also identifies missing fasteners, broken welds, damaged structural components, defective couplers, low air hoses and wheel tread defects. Accurate wheel detection is an essential part of these monitoring stations, both to trigger the monitoring equipment and specify the location of any train defects.

Progress Rail, Germany, has developed a vehicle monitoring checkpoint for use before tunnels. This detects dragging equipment, out of gauge loads and has hotbox detectors. Throughout Europe, around 1,200 FUES hot box detectors are in use, including 145 in the UK. These monitor external and internal bearings, wheels and brake temperatures. They require accurate wheel sensors to trigger the temperature sensors and provide data on speed and direction.

Wheel lathe company Hegenscheidt has developed its ARGUS II system to monitor wheels using various sensors to detect cracks and measure the diameter, roundness and wheel profile. This is done at up to 15km/h in a depot monitoring station that also identifies the train by, for example, transponders or optical character recognition. The results are stored on a database and used to assess wheel life and time to the next wheel turning. Accurate wheel sensors are an essential part of this system as the monitoring cameras and lasers need to be triggered at exactly the correct point.

Hegenscheidt’s Peter Neumann stated that this system is to be developed for main line use at speeds up to 100km/h. For this, the Frauscher wheel sensor triggers when the dip voltage of its two coils is equal. Initial results are that, at speeds between 40 and 60km/h, wheels of 513 and 755 mm diameter can be detected within ranges respectively of 5.2 and 3.2 mm. As this was not sufficiently accurate, further development work is being done.

Far and wide

The 2015 Wheel Detection Forum certainly offered wide-ranging presentations. Many had travelled far to attend it. No doubt, they found it worth their intercontinental journeys. This worldwide spread of delegates was a reflection of the installation of over 100,000 Frauscher wheel sensors in 70 countries, giving the company a market share of around 40%.

It was clear that axle counters offer significant benefits, so wheel sensors installations are likely to have significantly increased by the next Wheel Detection Forum, in 2017. It will be interesting to see what this next Forum has to offer.

In case you missed it: It’s like cement but different

27th December 2015

We all live in a world where any form of disruption is a major issue which dramatically affects our wellbeing. The infrastructures we use on a daily basis, especially rail, roads and highways, constantly need maintaining as they are often used at full capacity. This problem also extends to utilities – water, gas and electricity distribution – power stations, marine environments and others. Much of this infrastructure, especially within cities and large towns, now can’t cope with the demands put upon it.

The net result is that these indispensible systems have begun to wear and fail at a higher rate and speed than may have been the case in the past. They now require a higher level of repair and maintenance to keep them operational, and this has to be carried out with less access time to keep traffic flowing and trains moving. As a result, there is an ever-increasing need for high-performing products to achieve the best level of repair in the shortest time.

A lot of infrastructure repairs require the use of cement. It’s easy to buy, simple to use, and relatively foolproof – in normal circumstances.

Re-engineering the product

Portland cement has been the standard for many years, but also has had some shortfalls. It shrinks excessively, can’t be accelerated without negative effects, is susceptible to attack by prevalent chemicals and reacts destructively with certain aggregates. None of this makes it ideal to use in today’s high- pressure maintenance environment.

CTS Rapid Set products provide cementitious solutions to this problem, with products that cure in a very short time and allow operations to continue with a minimum of disruption. There is also a specialist selection of additives available that give versatility of use to the three main products that are used to cover most repair and maintenance works.

Market leaders in USA, CTS Rapid Set products are fast becoming established across Europe, Asia and Australia and have recently been introduced to the UK. The three main products have recently been added to the London Underground Approved Products Register and are likely to be adopted for use within LUL civils maintenance works.

Rapid Set Cement is an advanced high-performance hydraulic cement that provides structural strength in one hour. It is manufactured with the same raw materials, equipment and processes used to make Portland cement yet has reduced shrinkage and superior resistance to chemical attack.

Precise selection and proportioning of the raw materials, many refinements throughout the manufacturing process and comprehensive quality control combine to give Rapid Set superior performance and a unique chemistry.

When Rapid Set cement is used in concrete, it provides superior performance in terms of rapid strength gains, reduced permeability and low shrinkage. Traditionally, when fresh concrete is placed using conventional Portland cement, the heavier particles settle and displace the water mix which then forms capillaries as it rises to the surface as bleed water. After the concrete has hardened, these capillaries become routes of entry for substances that attack the concrete and reinforcing steel.

When Rapid Set cement is used in concretes, repair mortars, or any other Rapid Set products, it produces ettringite crystals that rapidly consume water and create a three- dimensional lattice. This stops the settling and displacement process, eliminating the capillary formation which reduces permeability and resulting in a more durable concrete.

Comprehensive range

Rapid Set cement forms the basis for several easy-to-use products.

Cement All is a multipurpose product that can be used for general concrete repairs, doweling, anchoring, industrial grouting and form work. It can be used from a feather-edge up to 100mm thick, the surface does not need priming, and can be water cured. It has an initial set time of 15 minutes and can be trafficked in one hour.

Mortar Mix is a versatile product that can be used for general concrete repairs to floor slabs, vertical and overhead applications. It is a high performance blend of Rapid Set cement and quality sands. Mortar Mix is non-metallic and has no chlorides and, when mixed with water, it produces a workable high-build mortar that can be applied anywhere from 10mm to 150mm thick. It too sets in 15 minutes and can be trafficked in one hour.

Concrete Mix is a multi-purpose, fast setting product that can be used for repair and construction of floor slabs, machine bases, and general concrete repairs. It is a blend of Rapid Set cement, grades of sands and 8mm aggregate.

When mixed with water, Concrete Mix produces a workable, high-quality concrete material that is ideal where fast strength gain, high durability and low shrinkage are desired. It can be applied from 50mm – 600mm in depth, is durable in wet environments, sets in 15 minutes and is ready to traffic in one hour.

In addition, there is a range of specialty additives for retarding setting, increasing flow ability and including reinforcement fibres.

All of which can come in handy when repairing a railway at two in the morning when trains are due to start running in a couple of hours.

Crossrail gets its rails

27th December 2015

The tunnelling is finished. It’s time to start building a railway. Ok, here at Rail Engineer we’ve taken an interest in the Crossrail tunnelling machinery. We’ve marvelled at the wonders of steering a delicate path through all the services and foundations beneath London. We’ve looked at the logistics of shifting all the spoil and the creation of a wetland nature reserve twice the size of the City of London at Wallasea Island in Essex.

But we’re really railway engineers, not tunnellers, and so it’s now, with the tunnels completed, that our enthusiasm for the project really kicks in. Over the coming months we’ll be looking at how an almost bare tunnel will be kitted out with the paraphernalia of a railway and how all that stuff is integrated to form a complete system capable of running a service of up to a train every two minutes.

This month, David Bickell covers the signalling and the transition from Network Rail to the Crossrail system and back again. In future issues, we’ll be looking in detail at the track installation equipment and how everything fits together, as well as delving into the power requirements and the overhead power delivery system.

And amongst all this there will be coverage of the logistics involved in not only feeding this voracious project but how all the various sites are kept safely apart. Of course, everything will depend on telecoms right through and beyond the construction phase.

But this is all to come. In the meantime we look at how things are at the moment with the rumble of the tunnelling machines now a thing of the past.

The contractor undertaking the Crossrail railway systems main works, contract C610, is ATC – a Joint Venture comprising Alstom, Transports Sud Ouest (TSO) and Costain Limited.

Gregg Purcell (Crossrail’s railway systems construction manager) and his team weren’t waiting for the last bucket of spoil to be transported along the Thames before they got into the tunnels. As each TBM receded into the distance, and its roar became more and more muffled, the railway began to take shape behind them.

The bore has not been left as a plain tube. It’s not entirely without a railway form. The tunnel construction team built mass concrete – ‘first stage’ concrete – up to just below slab track level along with walkways on either side. These walkways are a crucial part of the scheme of things.
It is on them that specialist multi purpose gantries run conveying the first components to make up the track structure, as we’ll see in a moment.

Track types

The track support comes in five different assembly types:

» There’s direct fixed track – used in the Victorian-engineered Connaught Tunnel;

» For most of the railway there’s standard track slab using fibre reinforced concrete;

» High attenuation sleepered track – similar to standard slab – is used only in a few small areas to reduce noise/vibration;

» Floating track slab (light) is used to reduce noise and vibration underneath Soho;

» Floating track slab (heavy) will be installed to reduce noise and vibration underneath the Barbican.

Direct fixed track has been used within Connaught Tunnel. The track bed, a concrete reinforced structure, allows engineers to create a flat surface on top of the significant undulations in the ground and to work within the height restrictions which are a feature of this Victorian- engineered tunnel. A total of 2.6km of direct fixed track has already been installed.

Floating track slab (light) goes in between Tottenham Court Road and Bond Street to minimise noise and vibration impacts from the operating railway on nearby recording studios and hotels which is a requirement of the Crossrail Act. The track slab is cast and then jacked up so that it ‘floats’ on a combination of elastomet rubber bearings and heavy-duty springs installed beneath it. A total of 1.97km of floating track slab (light) will be installed.

Floating track slab (heavy) will be used in the Farringdon area due to the close proximity of the Barbican. It sits on heavy-duty springs. A total of 1.34 km of floating track slab (heavy) will be installed.

Due to the extra depth added by the spring base of the floating track, a stiff shallow slab is needed. To ensure that the shallower slab remains durable and effectively minimises noise and vibration, an unusually dense concrete called Magnadense is used. Magnadense, manufactured by LKAB Minerals, is over twice as dense as normal concrete due to its natural iron ore content.

Heavy!

Behind this one word, Magnadense, lies a whole story of engineering discovery in the UK. It’s a concrete type used extensively in Sweden as a way of making sure that house basements are heavy enough not to float in the high water table over there. There has been little use in the UK until now and so this has been a steep learning curve.

Gregg’s aside: “On the team is a gentleman who has poured vast quantities of the stuff in the French nuclear industry and his experience has helped with a range of novel issues that we have had to overcome.

This concrete is so dense that a full concrete lorry will be heavily overloaded. Road vehicles have to run half full to keep within standard HA loading. Batching plants have to learn how to handle it. Costs rise.”

Short test tracks will be used to test the construction methods, materials and equipment as well as for training purposes. A 100 metre long stretch of standard track slab has been built at Plumstead, a 30 metre section of direct fixed track has been constructed beside the Connaught Tunnel in Silvertown, and a 100 metre curved section of floating track slab has been built at Old Oak Common.

The majority of the track in the central section (about 80%) is standard track slab. This amounts to a total of 41.2km.

When constructing the standard track slab, the initial sequence of work is carried out by four multi- purpose gantries which transport and accurately position around 70,000 sleepers and 57km of rail in Crossrail’s central section. Each gantry, operated by a single person, will run along the raised curbed sides of the tunnel’s first stage concrete mentioned earlier.

After positioning 108-metre- long sections of rail along a stretch of tunnel, the gantry then carries and deposits sleepers at carefully measured intervals before lifting the rail into place on top of them. The track is then secured in place using clips, props and jigs before it is welded and the formation is concreted into position.

Two gantries will operate from Plumstead, one from Westbourne Park and the other will install the floating track slab underneath the Barbican estate.

The bespoke gantries have been manufactured for Crossrail by Metalliance in France and were delivered to London in August 2015.

Railheads

The two main temporary logistics centres for Crossrail’s railway systems are located at Plumstead in southeast London and Westbourne Park in west London. These will be used by the many different engineering trains during the fit-out of the tunnels and stations.

Plumstead is the larger of the two railheads with a total of eight tracks, an overhead gantry crane to supply engineering trains and an operations centre to coordinate the activity.

At Westbourne Park, the previous railhead that was constructed for the transport of excavated material from the western tunnels is being replaced with a new three-track railhead. The materials needed for the western tunnels fit-out will be stored and loaded onto construction trains at a temporary storage depot at Old Oak Common and brought to the Westbourne Park railhead.

Concreting train

The concreting train is a sophisticated mobile underground concrete batching factory, which is the reason for its significant length. Dry materials are loaded onto the concreting train, which then batches the concrete. At 465 metres long, this train plays a key role in creating the standard track slab. Refurbished and brought to the UK from France via the Channel Tunnel in August 2015, it will be based at Plumstead and used in the installation of standard track slab. At its peak production rate it will be able to install up to 250 metres of concrete track slab a day.

Running and maintaining the concreting train is a 24-hour operation. Concrete pouring will take place during the night with restocking and maintenance being carried out during the day. When the concreting train is not operating in the tunnels, it will be split in two due to its size and will be located on two of the eight railhead tracks.

Concreting shuttle

A concreting shuttle will be used to construct the standard track slab in the tunnels between Royal Oak Portal in west London and central London. Pre-mixed fibre reinforced concrete, provided by a batching plant at Paddington New Yard, will be loaded onto the shuttle. The concrete shuttle will be delivered to Westbourne Park in January 2016.

The main difference between the train and the shuttle is that the train is loaded with dry materials, the shuttle with conventional ready-mixed concrete. It has around half the output of the concreting train but is much shorter – a factor driven by the limited room available at its stabling point in Westbourne Park.

Gregg observes that, with the shuttle, “you’re up against the clock the moment you load it up!”

Track installation

Around 70,000 sleepers have been manufactured for Crossrail by SBC Rail (Stanton Bonna) in Nottingham, a Consolis Holdings (SAS) company. These sleepers will be delivered into the Crossrail tunnels in bales by construction trains from Plumstead and Westbourne Park.

A specialised welding machine will be used to join the 108-metre-long sections of Crossrail’s permanent rail together. Tata Steel will supply more than 57km of its heat-treated, wear-resistant rail. The steel blooms are being manufactured at Tata Steel’s plant in Scunthorpe before being rolled at the company’s Hayange

mill in northern France and delivered to the Plumstead Railhead via the North Kent Line. Tata Steel will also deliver rail to the Westbourne Park railhead from January 2016 to support the track installation process in the western tunnels.

Drilling rig

As part of the tunnel fit-out, over 250,000 holes will be drilled to accommodate brackets for cabling, walkways and other equipment to support the operation of the railway.

ATC Joint Venture will deploy a state of the art, precision automated drilling rig which will drill many of the holes required, minimising the need for manual drilling. The Crossrail drilling rig was manufactured by Rowa Tunnelling Logistics in Switzerland and arrived in November 2015.

Once the track slab has been laid, the rig will sit on the track and move its way through the tunnels drilling the holes in pre-determined locations. The machine has a dust suppression system in place, producing a clean and accurate drilled hole every time. The drilling rig works in conjunction with real-time 3D laser surveys of the tunnel to ensure accuracy.

Powering Crossrail

The Crossrail route will be powered by a 25kV overhead line system. A rigid overhead conductor bar will be installed in the tunnels.

In the central section, traction power for the Crossrail trains will be provided by two new bulk supply points from National Grid at Pudding Mill Lane in the east and Kensal Green to the west.

A 22kV high-voltage network will be installed by AC (just Alstom and Costain without TSO) in the central section from Royal Oak Portal in the west to Limmo Peninsula in the east with an 11kV high voltage non-traction spur to be installed from Limmo through to Plumstead. This network will supply mains power to each Crossrail station, shaft and portal within the central section.

Crossrail’s communications and control systems

New communications and control systems will be installed throughout the new Crossrail stations and tunnels. These include:

» Customer information systems – customer information displays in ticket halls and concourses and at each platform screen door;

» CCTV – Digital cameras for station control and security while views of the platform are also transmitted to the drivers cab for driver only operation (DOO);

» Radio – Provision of radio infrastructure / network for operations and emergency services;

» Public Address System – For general and emergency announcements.

Current Crossrail progress

Construction of the logistics centre at Plumstead is complete. The construction of the Westbourne Park temporary railhead is underway.

The first delivery of permanent rail was made in August 2015 and installation of permanent track is also underway.

So, that’s the state of railway engineering on Crossrail. If you’re really bereft of the delights of tunnelling, then there will be three whacking great machines chomping their way through the London Clay from next year. However, these will be constructing the Thames Tideway – a tunnel just a little larger than Crossrail, but which will be transporting something considerably less wholesome.

In case you missed it: RVE 2015 best yet!

27th December 2015

Rail Vehicles and Enhancements – RVE 2015 – did just what it says on the tin. Billed as “the only single-theme Expo aimed at the engineering of rail vehicles for refurbishment and enhancements”, the one-day show changed venue for its fourth year, moving to Derby’s Riverside Centre early in October.

It was very much a move for the better. The main exhibition hall was larger and accommodated the wide range of exhibitors with ease while not looking empty, and there was a buzz about the place all day.

This is a working show. Exhibitors were given limited space in the main room for a couple of pop-up banners, a table and a small display. No more was needed and it kept everyone on an equal footing.

The specific focus kept it sensible as well. It was all about the technology that goes into rail vehicles. So there were radios, and seats, and pantographs (OK – they actually go on top), and cables, and connectors, and passenger information systems, and even aromas (do you want your carriage to smell nice?).

Just through a doorway was another room, set up as a seminar theatre. Here Ian Walmsley, journalist for another publication (one you can buy in Smiths!), presided over an interesting series of talks and seminars that ran through the day.

Started with a bang

But what of the show in detail? It started early with a networking meeting by Rail Alliance in the theatre. Bacon cobs (baps, rolls, butties – call them what you will) were provided, along with tea and coffee, so the early birds could have breakfast, network with colleagues and hear a couple of presentations on ‘sensitive design’ from Veronica Elena Bocci and Luis Chomiak.

Meanwhile, next door, banners were being erected, tablecloths hunted down, and everyone was bustling about getting ready for a 9am start. Rail Media’s stand was up and ready early, and we seemed to be the designated table supplier, if only because the pile of tables had been leant against the wall next to our stand!

All was ready in time, and the first of around 500 visitors came through the door. Within half an hour it was really quite busy!

It was time for a cast around the show and, without naming everyone there (if you want to have a full list, the website is still live at www.rve2015.co.uk), there were certain stands that caught the eye.

Lots to see

Harting had several boxes of connectors and jumper cables, including a neat way of pulling new cables through tight spaces in older vehicles. The cables are fitted with a slimline connector, looking a bit like a telephone plug. A pulling eye can then be snapped to this connector and used to pull it through bulkheads and cramped spaces. Once the cable is where it is meant to be, the eye is snapped off and the appropriate connector to interface with the equipment snapped on. Very convenient, and a great idea.

Insurance specialist Jobson James was next. Their advice to clients was simple – read the contract. In particular, check it for insurance implications as clauses in some contracts can invalidate insurance, which isn’t something you want to discover when it’s too late and everything has gone pear shaped.

GAI-Tronics had one of those stands you hate to be next to. Demonstrating how their on-board telephone system not only connected the crew with the driver but could also be used to make PA announcements was very interesting, but must have got on the wick of the stands next door by the end of the day. Still, they made their point and the system can even be run from the operator’s control room. Handy!

Design Analysis had one of the best logos on display. The company performs finite element analysis on train components, both for new build and refurbishments. The logo was made up of lots of little elements, reflecting the company’s activities, and was very eye-catching. So, too, was the rest of the display as a lot of it focussed on crash structures and their performance.

Signature Aromas make smells. A lot of people in railway carriages make smells too, as do the brakes and some of the electrical gear, but Signature Aromas’ are much nicer and you can choose what ‘flavour’ (is that the right word for a smell?) you want.

Brecknell Willis had a complete pantograph on its stand, and several experts, but not much else, while fellow Wabtec-company Mors Smitt next door had a few banners to show off its signalling capabilities. Both stands were busy.

Comprehensive displays

Hima-Sella’s stand was no bigger than anyone else’s, but they had a lot on it. GSM-R handheld radios by Funkwerk. Selective door opening equipment. A clever in-cab display that was actually two half-sized displays fastened together, so in the event of failure one half could still display vital information and get the driver home. This was a great innovation by partner Deute-Werk and one of the German company’s engineers was on hand to explain it all.

RDS was showing a video train positioning system. Knorr-Bremse (neé Railcare) promoted its vehicle maintenance and repair capabilities. Another recent name change, Ricardo Rail (formerly Lloyd’s Register Rail) was talking to visitors about certification and testing. I M Kelly had seats on display (not for sitting in, even by footweary exhibition visitors). HydraPower Dynamics was discussing hydraulic hoses while Elmatic had a range of heater elements on its table.

CCTV

specialists Comtrol – ‘Power To Communicate’ – was demonstrating an anti-bridge strike system it had developed with TEW Plus. Naturally this can’t prevent bridge strikes, but a dedicated camera which monitors a graticule on the other end of the bridge can detect movement, both that expected from a train passing but also from something striking the bridge. If the movement is permanent, all the alarms go off. It’s solar powered too!

Rail Order, part of ADComms, works with its customers to reduce cost through initiatives such as consignment stocking, kitting of service components and just-in-time supply.

Lighting specialist McGeogh’s stand was hard to get close to – it was so bright! LED tubes were the focus here – direct replacements for both 24V and 110V fluorescent tubes.

Onyxrail had a central stand. The turnkey enhancements and maintenance provider delivers both complete project solutions or individual components to the rail traction and rolling stock industry. It can also offer higher- technology manufacturers a route to market in the UK and elsewhere.

Sister companies Brentto Industry, a supplier of high-quality castings, forgings and machined components to the rolling stock maintenance industry, and labour supplier Skills4Rail were alongside the Onyxrail stand.

There was a lot more to see than can be mentioned here. Infodev passenger counting systems, BTROS cable looms, Televic passenger information systems, DC Airco heating and ventilation, Road & Rail Protec video systems for route monitoring, driver-only operation and such details as pantograph monitoring, all of these had interesting displays and experts available to talk with visitors.

All this and seminars too

There was a lot to see in just one day. And that is without the seminar programme going on in the next room. Ten talks were crammed into six hours, covering everything from vehicle design to operations. Speakers from technology companies Interfleet, Knorr-Bremse, Wabtec and Interfleet were interspersed with those from Porterbrook, Eversholt, East Midlands Trains and Vivarail.

Just outside the door of the building, telecommunications specialist Westermo had brought its mobile showroom and training centre, which was parked in the sun, attracting visitors as they arrived and as they left.

All in all, it was a very successful day. The programme was packed, the hall was full, and visitors had something to see and someone to talk with from the moment they arrived (or even before, if the Westermo team got hold of them). Organiser Kevin Lane said simply: “I’m really chuffed.” When pushed to say a bit more, he added: “There are lots of big names here, going around and seeing our exhibitors, so it’s been a great success. Chuffed covers it.”

The next RVE event is already planned – 6 October 2016 at the Riverside Centre in Derby. So if you’re involved in Rail Vehicles and Enhancement, put the date in your diary. And if you didn’t exhibit this year, but should have done, Kevin has about six spaces spare…

Article was first published in Rail Engineer November Issue 133